Here we go again...

It's just as Lexie said, the two of you were going to leave and head south and just like that, the two of you left the Syndicate with no troubles at all. You were even able to go over to The Den to get a hold of Lexie's tiger first and then the two of you just casually walked out of the Syndicate. A handful of guards cast curious and questionable faces your direction but thought otherwise since you were actually out of the castle a deal must have been struck.

It wasn't long before you walked out far enough from the Syndicate, walking to the side of Lexie's tiger as it slowly marched alongside you, your hand just resting on it's side. "She should be out here somewhere..." you mumble to yourself as your keep scouring your field of vision looking for your tiger.

Another ten minutes of walking and you finally see her, she runs up to you with happiness, finally able to have you back, her head nudges against your hand as you give her little pets behind her ear "Good girl!!" you smile out "Missed you! You okay?!" you ask.

Nothing but purrs and soft growls are echoing out from the tiger as Lexie just smiles on, watching the two of your reunite "I remember how scared you were when I first showed you her."

With another quick scratch under her chin, you step to her side, throwing yourself up top on her, ready to once again ride south to Rathkin. This time though, just traveling with your soon to be wife. You wanted to get there quickly as time was important, but you also knew that if the Rathkin army marched south it would take them much longer to get back to Rathkin then you and Lexie could travel.

"Let's take it easy while riding south." you say, nodding at Lexie as the two of you ride side by side.

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course, gotta watch out for you!" you smile "Plus, I know Ashe is doing well, she's gotta be enjoying herself, being leader while I'm gone."

"Probably has all the Sunrider's on their knees groveling to her" Lexie laughs out loud "Going to be all power hungry. She may even require you to challenge her to win your spot back!" her pearly white smile exits her face.

You laugh back at her thought "Instead of pushing through the night, let's get to The Turth River and rest there for the day, then finish up the rest of the ride tomorrow. I think that'll work out."

"Sounds good! I could use a break after riding this tiger for so many hours as hard as we're going to. Hurts my ass!" she laughs.

"Need some more cushion!" you smack your own ass "Armor is comfortable!" you laugh at her which is following by a roll of her eyes.

Hours pass as the two of you continue your slow ride through the desert, the Sun now at it's highest point, causing you to feel awfully bad about your tigers having to softly jog constantly through this heat. "I think the Turth River should be coming up yeah?" you ask Lexie "I mean, it took over half a day of slow marching to get there last time, but with us going faster it should only take about half that time, yeah?"

"Yup yup. Maybe another hour or so before we get there?" Lexie replies, lifting the backside of her arm up to wipe her forehead "Then we need to rest!"

"You hear that girl!" you say to your tiger "One final push then we can take a much needed, long break at the Turth River, okay?" you smile.

As if your tiger knew exactly what you were saying, off she sprint, faster and faster towards your destination.

The tiger's paws patted off the dirt for many more long moments, both of them side by side, panting and heaving as they just wanted to reach their destination for the day. After what went by extremely quick for both you and Lexie, was probably feeling like **** for your tigers, you finally spotted the Turth River in the distance.

"There!" you smile "Almost there, then we can rest!" looking around some of the green vegetation, shade and fresh drinking water from the river.

Finally making it to the river, you immediately got off your tiger, jogging over to Lexie to help her down.

"How thoughtful" she laughs "But I'm not that useless yet!"

You grab her hand and help her down, almost immediately both you and Lexie's tigers go to the River, wading into it to coat their bodies as well as drinking gallons upon gallons of water to rehydrate themselves. It was majestic to watch, the two tigers were like little kids playing in the water, jumping on each other, growling at one another and just enjoying at each other. It wasn't long before they both got out of the river and looked like they were running away.

"I hope they are just going hunting..." you laugh "Otherwise we're screwed" you wrap your arm around Lexie's waist, pulling her close as the two of you watch your tigers fade off into the distance.

About half an hour later, Lexie and yourself have little make shift beds made up, you got some bread and smoked meat to eat as well as downed a ton of water yourself. It was peaceful to be sitting with the love of your life, just you and her, alone on the river.

"I must say..." you start "I honestly didn't think they would just let us leave."

"I have a feeling Edmin didn't know. I don't think he would allow both of us to leave together. No way in hell." she replies, her eyes darting off into the distance, staring off, almost zoning out "I honestly believe everything is going to work out in the end. I think Rixx will lead his army back to Rathkin and all will go back to normal."

"Yeah...we'll see about that." you hesitate "Although I'm curious if..." you pause, holding your hand up in the air at Lexie "Did you hear something?" you whisper to her.

Lexie stays quiet, just listening alongside of you.

Another soft footstep off behind you. "There." you look in the direction it came from as you stand up from your seated position, ready to grab your weapons if needed.

"Wait, but..." Lexie stands up too, pointing behind you "There! Something is coming from over there!"

You don't even turn around to see who Lexie is pointing at because in front of you, your eyes are locked onto something as well "Yeah...same here."